1 Laura E. Krank Attorney at Law: 220208 2 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC 12631 East Imperial Highway Suite C-115 3 Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 Tel.: (562) 868-5886 4 Fax: (562) 868-8868 E-mail: [email protected] 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 Mitchell E. Ward

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9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11

12 MITCHELL E. WARD, ) No. 2:22-cv-1771 DB 13 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR 14 ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF vs. ) ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES 15 ) PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL MARTIN O'MALLEY, ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. 16 Commissioner of Social Security, ) § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT ) TO

17 Defendant. ) ) 18 )

19 TO THE HONORABLE DEBORAH BARNES, MAGISTRATE JUDGE 20 OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 21 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their 22 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Mitchell E. Ward 23 (“Ward”) be awarded attorney fees and expenses in the amount of SEVEN 24 THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED dollars ($7,400.00) under the Equal Access to 25 Justice Act (EAJA),

(d), and no costs under

. 26 1 This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 2 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28

; 2412(d). 4 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Ward, the government will 5 consider the matter of Ward's assignment of EAJA fees to Law Offices of 6 Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC. The retainer agreement containing the 7 assignment is attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff,

, 8 2529 (2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees 9 are subject to any offset allowed under the United States Department of the 10 Treasury's Offset Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the 11 government will determine whether they are subject to any offset. 12 Fees shall be made payable to Ward, but if the Department of the Treasury 13 determines that Ward does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause 14 the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Law Offices of 15 Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the assignment executed by Ward.1 16 Any payments made shall be delivered to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, 17 Inc., CPC.

18 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Ward's request for 19 EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of 20 Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall 21 constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Ward and/or 22 Laura E. Krank including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC may 23 have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 24

25 1 The parties do not stipulate whether counsel for the plaintiff has a cognizable lien under federal law against the recovery of EAJA fees that survives the Treasury 26 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Laura E. Krank and/or the 2 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC to seek Social Security Act 3 attorney fees under

(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of 4 the EAJA. 5 DATE: April 8, 2024 Respectfully submitted, 6 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC

7 /s/ Laura E. Krank2 BY: _________________________ 8 Laura E. Krank Attorney for plaintiff Mitchell E. Ward 9

10 DATED: April 8, 2024 11 E. MARTIN ESTRADA 12 United States Attorney DAVID M. HARRIS 13 Assistant United States Attorney Chief, Civil Division 14 CEDINA M. KIM Assistant United States Attorney 15 Senior Trial Attorney, Civil Division

16 /s/ Jessamyn Hanna 17

18 JESSAMYN HANNA Special Assistant United States Attorney 19 Attorneys for Defendant MARTIN O'MALLEY, Commissioner of Social Security 20 (Per e-mail authorization) 21 22 23 24

25 2 Counsel for the plaintiff attests that all other signatories listed, and on whose behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the 26 1 ORDER 2 Pursuant to the parties’ Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Equal

3 Access to Justice Act Fees, Costs, and Expenses IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that 4 fees and expenses in the amount of $7,800.00 as authorized by

, 5 and no costs authorized by

, be awarded subject to the terms of 6 the Stipulation. 7 DATED: April 15, 2024 /s/ DEBORAH BARNES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26